HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL ENGINEER

By Mr. M. Srinivasa Rao

M.A., MBA., MSPR., MSCP., PGDTE.,

Psychologist & Softskills Trainer

Self-awareness and self-motivation are two important skills, which make a student
successful in the four years of engineering course in particular and in one's life in
general. In today's changing scenario, the Z generation students are bizarre because
they expect instantaneous success in their sphere of professional and general life. It
is due to the rapid technological development, the dynamic environment, and the
undesirable change in the art of parenting. It is to be acknowledged that today's
generation spends most of their time on social media and mobile phone applications
like WhatsApp and facebook, which, in turn, is resulting in their lacking in social and
interpersonal skills.
It is to be noted that attitude makes or breaks the career of the students. Attitude
plays a major role in four years of engineering course. Attitude and Aptitude decide the
Altitude of an engineering student. At Intermediate level (10+2), the students are
compelled to focus more on the theory and objective type questions to achieve better
percentage of marks in the academic examinations and better ranks in the competitive
examinations. Conversely, the students need to focus more on practicality, logical and
analytical skills in any engineering course. These important skills play a pivotal role in
understanding engineering subjects with a practical bent of mind. In contrast with
Intermediate education, the ambience and classroom culture of engineering college is
entirely different. Unfortunately, most of the parents pay very less attention when their
wards secure a seat in engineering course. In fact they are supposed to pay more
attention on their children as the engineering course is semester-based system, not
year-wise. Students should be regular to their college and acquire knowledge the core
engineering subjects along with the English language proficiency theoretically and
pragmatically.
A student should be a learner till his last breath to become master of his own
destiny. Life-long learning is a pre-requisite for every engineering student. Understanding
day-to-day classes and adopting self-learning strategies like online learning, visiting
library and referring to books in the library. Students should cultivate the habit of critical
reading skills, which is the need of the hour today. As Francis Bacon, the father of English
Essay, says that “Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact
man”. Students should understand that they are living in a world of cut-throat
competition. This being so, the students should keep themselves abreast with the latest
technology pertaining to their course. To serve this purpose, reading research papers
published in well-reputed journals certainly makes the student become more researchoriented
and highly competent.
When it comes to engineering education, it is quite imperative that the students
should maintain minimum of 75% of attendance in order to get promoted to the next
semester. Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) is followed. The student should get
minimum of 50 percentage of credits in order to get promoted from one semester to
another. This rule may vary from university to another university. The examination system
is entirely different from that of Intermediate education. For every eight weeks of time, an
assignment test and internal test are conducted. The practical work done by the
HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL ENGINEER
students in their laboratories is thoroughly evaluated on the basis of day-to-day
performance at the end of each semester. These marks will be added for grading.
Another important development the students need to ensure is being able to be
research-oriented. If the students start writing research papers from the second or
third year, they will have a bright future ahead of them. They can publish their research
papers in their chosen fields of research in journals like IEEE, CSI, Springer etc. This will
certainly lay in-roads for their final year projects in future. They should carry out real-time
projects so as to widen their horizon of technical knowledge. They are not at all supposed
to copy projects from consultancies or elsewhere. This will improve their research
abilities. The students should do internship or certification courses, which will immensely
benefit the student community. They should have membership in their respective
professional chapters or bodies. The industrial visits made by the students make them
understand the importance of hands-on experience. Theoretical knowledge and practical
knowledge are equally important.
Presently, the students are finding themselves at crossroads, as they do not know
what to do after their undergraduate engineering course comes to an end. The students
should have a very clear understanding of their goals in the first year of their
undergraduate course. A very large number of avenues are open for them. But they should
set their goal according to their strengths. They can pursue their higher education in India
and any foreign country. If they want to study in India, they are supposed to know the GATE
(Graduate Aptitude Test of Engineering) . It is a very tough examination. Based on the
percentile they get in this exam, they can get admission into M.S or M.Tech in IISc, IITs,
NITs, universities and private engineering colleges. The students should have a
comprehensive idea of this prestigious examination pattern and start preparing for from
the second year of their undergraduate engineering course.
If the students of undergraduate engineering courses aspire to go abroad for their
further studies, they should be aware of GRE, TOEFL, and IELTS. They should also know the
merit scholarships provided by the foreign universities, and the score required to take
admission in a particular foreign university.
If the students set a goal of getting a job immediately after their engineering course
comes to an end, they are supposed to have improved their soft skills and technical skills
from the beginning of the course. They should be industry-ready for the Campus
Placement Drives. In this regard the students should know the company profiles of wellreputed
MNCs. To serve this purpose, the students have to be cognizant of the pattern of
written test in which the questions will be asked on English grammar and programming
languages required for the IT industries. This being apart, the applicants will be tested in
their communicative competence by conducting activities or rounds like group
discussions, JAM session, and interview in the area of HR and their technical expertise. To
be successful in these rounds, the applicants are supposed to have sound knowledge in
problem solving skills, logical thinking skills, critical thinking skills, decision-making skills,
time management skills, team building skills, leadership qualities, presentation skills,
conflict management skills, stress management skills, verbal and non-verbal
communication skills. Any student belonging to any branch of study can get a job in the IT
sector. The skills mentioned above are very important for the students belonging to all
branches of study. But in today's global scenario, the students should understand that
they are not job seekers, but they are job creators. The students can achieve everything
with self-awareness, perseverance, unswerving dedication, self-motivation and passion
for learning.